Ebola: Bodies of Victims body abandoned after burial teams go on Strike in Sierra Leone

Bodies of Ebola victims are lying abandoned in the streets of Sierra Leone's capital it has emerged, as burial teams strike over a backlog in 'hazard' pay.

The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation reported bodies of those who had died from the virus were being left in homes and on the streets of Freetown. Burial teams took strike action, complaining they had not received hazard pay for a week.
sponsored post
The dead bodies of Ebola victims are highly contagious, raising fears more people were at risk of contracting the virus. Although officials today said the issue had been 'resolved', organisers of the strike action could not be reached to confirm it was over. It was not clear if the backlog of bodies had been cleared and whether there still remains a threat to the public.



Deputy health minister Madina Rahman told a radio programme this morning the strike has been 'resolved'. She said the dispute centered on a one-week backlog for hazard pay, which had been deposited in the bank, but was not given to the workers on time.

'The health ministry is going to investigate the delay in the health workers not receiving their money,' she said.

The burial teams make up a total of 600 workers organized in groups of 12, health ministry spokesman Sidie Yahya Tunis said.

Tunis described the situation as 'very embarrassing.'

The government was already facing criticism this week over a shipping container filled with medical gear and mattresses that has been held up at the port for more than a month.

The World Health Organization says Ebola is believed to have killed more than 600 people in Sierra Leone, where there have been more than 2,100 confirmed cases. More than 3,400 people have been killed by the outbreak in West Africa, which has hit Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia hardest.